The letter was three lines long. Four years of my life fit inside them. Lucian read the royal inquiry aloud in the council room.

"Female child taken from the eastern royal nursery twenty-three years prior. Possible transfer through Greyfield Orphan House

Smoke rolled down the west corridor before the first bucket reached the stairs. People ran toward the archive. I ran the other way. Lucian caught my arm with his eyes, not his hand.

"Where are you going?"

"Not into the fire."

That stopped him. I pointed towa

They put the floorboard in the center of the council table. Not the evidence folder. Not the royal seal. The board. Lucian had asked me that morning if I wanted it introduced privately. I said no. For five years, Blackthorn had made my punishment public.

The record coul